Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday slammed the Congress and accused it of "lying" and "misleading" people over the appointment of the Lok Sabha pro-tem Speaker, asserting all due procedure was followed in the selection of BJP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab.
Mahtab, with the longest uninterrupted tenure as a member of the Lower House, was appointed as the pro-tem Speaker by President Droupadi Murmu for administering oath and affirmation to the newly election members of the Lok Sabha.
Congress accused the BJP-led government of "destroying parliamentary norms" by ignoring the claim of Kodikunnil Suresh, an eight-term Lok Sabha MP.
In response to the allegations levelled by the grand old party, Rijiju said, "Voters have rejected the Congress thrice, but still the party has not learnt its lessons. It is the decision of the people to keep you in the opposition, but Congress wants to run the government by force …. We will not give in to such pressure."
Rijiu clarified that even though Suresh was an eight-term MP from the Lower House, he was not an MP in 1998 and 2004, which means that he did not have an uninterrupted tenure in the Lok Sabha.
The Union Minister rubbished Congress' claim of Suresh being ignored because he was a Dalit, asking, "Do you think such an argument is even valid?"
Citing that he had spoken to Suresh, who was happy to be nominated to the panel of chairpersons, Rijiju said, "Somebody is instigating him to make such statements."
He said that people were hoping for a good start to the Parliament session. However, the Congress has "resorted to spreading lies and misleading everyone through social media posts" even before the first session, Rijiju said.
Rijiju said that the post of a pro-tem speaker is "very temporary" adding that their role is only valid till the election of a new Speaker.
"I have to say it with great regret that I feel ashamed that the Congress party has talked like this. First of all, they created an issue about the pro-tem Speaker. This post of pro-tem Speaker is very temporary. They play their role till the election of the new Speaker. They do not have to do any business transaction," Rijiju said.
He also cited past precedents to claim that the UPA government had ignored the seniority principle in 2004 to appoint eight-term member Balasaheb Vikhe-Patel as the pro-tem Speaker, when nine-term MP George Fernandes was a Lok Sabha MP.
Even claims of P M Sayeed and Giridhar Gamang to the post of pro-tem Speaker were ignored by the Congress on earlier occasions, Rijiju said.
(With PTI inputs)
